Ultimate Guide To Shipping Via The United States Postal Service USPS

When you first launch your online store, your number one expense is probably going to be shipping. And in the beginning, you’re not going to have the necessary shipping volume to negotiate attractive rates with FedEx or UPS.

As a result, the United States Postal Service will likely be your most economical shipping option. While USPS is not the most reliable shipping option out there, their rates are very reasonable and the shipping speeds are relatively quick.

I still remember the first time that I set foot inside the post office to ship our initial set of orders. There was this gigantic tray of different colored shipping tags with no instructions or labels and I had absolutely no clue what anything meant or how to ship a package.

When I brought my boxes up to the counter, everyone behind me glared at me because they knew that I was going to occupy the clerk for a long period of time. And even when I got to the front desk, I got a disapproving sigh from the person behind the counter.

Do you need delivery confirmation and a return receipt? Is there anything liquid or fragile? Do you need insurance? Would you like express mail, priority mail or first class or parcel post? You do realize that you can print your own labels right?

***Deer In Headlights*** I was so clueless.

Anyway, the purpose of this guide is to demystify the United States Postal Service. And I’m going to outline all of the different options so you don’t embarrass yourself at the post office like I did.

First Class Mail

When it comes to shipping, there is no service out there that can beat the price of First Class Mail. For any package that is under 13 oz in weight, USPS is by far the cheapest and the fastest way to ship ANYTHING in the United States.

According to the USPS website, packages are delivered within 1-3 days “in most cases”. Notice that I purposely put “in most cases” in quotation marks. In practice, “1-3 days” can result in delivery times that are all over the map. We’ve had packages take 1-3 weeks. We’ve had packages get there overnight and we’ve had packages get completely lost in the mail.

But I would say that the average delivery time is about 2-5 days in most locations in the United States. When you ship First Class, you should also get delivery confirmation which will allow you to track your package while it is in transit.

Note: Delivery confirmation is free when you print your labels online or with a service like ShippingEasy.com

All fine and good right? Where it gets confusing is with the package restrictions that are associated with First Class mail.

First off you have to be careful of the dimensions for anything you ship first class. If you ever ship anything in a large envelope, you have the make sure the dimensions don’t exceed 15 inches by 12 inches. Also, your package must be at least a quarter inch thick.

We’ve been burned by this “quarter inch thick” policy before. Since we ship handkerchiefs, sometimes the package can be extremely thin. If your package does not exceed .25 inches in thickness, it will either get returned to sender or USPS will upgrade the package automatically to Priority Mail and then charge the customer!

Yes, you heard that correctly. We’ve had angry customers call us because they were charged additional postage upon parcel pickup. So today, we pad our thinner packages with extra filler material in order to exceed the quarter inch requirement.

Priority Mail

If your package exceeds 13oz in weight, you have to use Priority Mail. According to the USPS website, delivery times for Priority Mail is also 1-3 days which makes it the same speed as First Class mail.

In practice, we’ve found that Priority Mail is slightly faster and more reliable than First Class mail but this a qualitative observation based on our experience. In other words, take it with a grain of salt.

The beauty of Priority Mail is that ALL shipping supplies are FREE!

Simply go onto the USPS.com website and you can order Priority Mail boxes of various sizes and they will be shipped to your door free of charge.

Different Priority Mail Choices

What’s also cool about Priority Mail is that there are many different box choices depending on the weight of your shipment. Here’s a description of your different box options.

Priority Mail Regional Box – This cost of shipping in a regional box depends on the weight and distance of your shipment. This is the default way of calculating shipping costs whether you use a USPS box or your own box

Priority Mail Small Flat Rate Box – With this box, you get charged 1 flat rate regardless of weight but you have to use USPS’s special box. Each box measures 8 11/16″ x 5 7/16″ x 1 3/4″ and can be used to ship small electronics or brochures.

The next logical question is how does pricing for flat rate boxes stack up to regular Priority Mail and FedEx and UPS. I’ve written a fairly comprehensive article on the cheapest way to ship packages that you should check out for pricing info.

Express Mail

Express mail is the United States Post Office’s version of next day delivery…except that it isn’t always next day. Unlike FedEx and UPS which guarantees next day delivery, USPS will take 1-2 business days depending on location.

Therefore you always have to check the website for the exact transit time. In our experience, USPS Express Mail is much less reliable than UPS or FedEx. And even though the service is “guaranteed”, it’s a major pain in the butt to get your money back in the event of a late delivery.

But that being said, Express Mail is much cheaper than FedEx or UPS for next day shipments and USPS also offers “flat rate” box variants depending on the weight and size of your shipment.

Here’s my take on Express Mail and why we don’t really use it anymore for our business. For one thing, the Express Mail pickup is much earlier than FedEx or UPS. Whereas FedEx or UPS packages can be dropped off as late as 6pm in some locations, USPS Express Mail packages must be dropped off no later than 3pm and sometimes as early as 1pm.

Note: The exact drop off deadline for USPS is highly dependent on the post office location

The other kicker with Express Mail is that just because your package is picked up by the post man does NOT mean that it will go out that day. In fact, the only way to truly guarantee next day delivery is to have your package scanned at the post office.

We’ve been burned by this many times. Even though our post man comes at 11am, sometimes our Express Mail packages don’t make it out until the next day which is really annoying. Also, we’ve had experiences where a package was “marked as delivered” when it in fact was not yet delivered.

Anyway, here’s my philosophy with all expedited shipments. Chances are if your customer is choosing next day delivery, they need it the next day. So even though USPS is more economical, you have to decide whether to take a greater risk of a late delivery and whether the cheaper cost is worth it.

In most cases, an Express Mail package will arrive on time or within 2 days. But using USPS Express Mail is a gamble that could easily result in an angry call if your customer needs their order right away.

Miscellaneous Services That Come With Express

Insurance coverage for up to $100

USPS Tracking™ to see tracking updates, including date and time of delivery or attempted delivery.

You can request to have your carrier pick up your package.

Signature confirmation of delivery

Standard Post

Standard Post is the cheapest way to ship packages via USPS but the problem is that it takes FOREVER. While the USPS website states delivery times of 2-8 business days, in our experience it can take noticeably longer.

In my opinion, you should avoid Standard Post altogether. I’d much rather use UPS or FedEx Ground delivery which guarantees delivery within 5 days. Standard Post is super cheap but the delivery times are somewhat unpredictable.

The only other reason to use Standard Post is if your parcel weighs more than 70lbs and exceeds the weight restrictions of Priority Mail. But again, I would look at FedEx or UPS Ground as an alternative.

Media Mail

Media mail is very similar to Standard Post except that it must be used to ship educational materials like CD, DVDs or books. What constitutes media exactly?

Realistically speaking, not many people ship media anymore thanks to services like DropBox, the adoption of ebooks etc… Heck, I don’t even use CDs, DVDs or USB drives anymore.

Extra Services Associated With Shipments

Now that we’ve covered all of the possible domestic shipping services that the United States Postal Service has to offer, let’s talk about the extra services that you can tack on to an existing shipment. In my opinion, this is the most confusing part about using USPS.

Here’s a list of the services that can be applied to most packages and when to use them.

Insurance coverage up to $5,000 – I rarely purchase insurance for our goods because they are not fragile. But one thing I’ve always wondered is how much of a pain it is to actually claim the insurance money. If making an insurance claim is anything like getting your money back for a late Express Mail delivery, then expect to waste a lot of your time.

Registered Mail – Shipping by registered mail offers the highest level of security for your most valuable items. Packages are insured for loss or damage up to $25,000. I’ve only used this service once to ship some jewelry across the country.

Delivery Confirmation – This pretty much comes for free with every first class, priority mail and express mail package as long as you print your shipping labels online.

Signature Confirmation – Buy this if you want a signature confirmation from the recipient. Note: you should get a signature for packages that are valued over $250 in the event of a charge back or payment dispute.

Certificate of Mailing – Purchase this option to prove the date when you sent out your package. But note, this option doesn’t show whether the person received it or not which is why I’ve never ever used this service before. Supposedly, this is useful when providing evidence of mailing in case there’s an insurance claim.

Certified Mail – Allows you to see when a letter is delivered. The letter also requires the signature of the recipient. Note: This service is only for letters. The only time I use certified mail is when I’m mailing in my taxes which I don’t do anymore since everything is online.

Return Receipt – The recipient must sign a postcard is attached to your package which is then mailed back to you as proof of receipt. This is similar to certified mail except for packages and not letters.

Collect on Delivery (COD) – The recipient pays for the merchandise and shipping when they receive the package. Send contents needing extra care.

Shipping Via USPS

Almost all of the services and shipping methods can be done online so there’s no real reason that you should ever have to set foot in an actual post office under most circumstances. We do all of our shipping using a service called ShippingEasy.com

ShippingEasy.com allows you to print all of your shipping labels from your computer and also interfaces to most shopping carts out there. In addition, they offer significant discounts on USPS shipping that are not available in any retail location or on the USPS.com website.

Finally, they also support FedEx and UPS so it’s really easy to compare shipping rates across all carriers. Oh and did I mention that their service is 100% free for up to 50 shipments per month?

These days, the only reason to set foot in a physical location is if you need to use COD, Certified Mail, Registered Mail, or a return receipt.

Hopefully, this guide will make using the United States Postal Service less intimidating. Once you have sufficient shipping volume, you can negotiate with UPS and FedEx to get “USPS like” prices. But in the beginning, there’s no cheaper alternative than USPS.

35 thoughts on “Ultimate Guide To Shipping Via The United States Postal Service USPS”

We’ve had very good luck with USPS Priority. Out of thousands of shipments I can count the number of lost or late packages on one hand (knock on wood) and the free packaging is great. Do you have any idea what kind of quantities are needed to start getting discounts from UPS or FedEx?

I once shipped an item I sold on ebay which I insured. Collecting the money from an insured item is a hassle to say the least. In this case I had to prove the value of the item and then call in every day for about a week. Even then I didn’t get any money for a while. I’m wondering how the signature confirmation prevents people from saying they didn’t get the item. Couldn’t you still lose merchandise if people just lie?

Thanks for sharing your story Greg. I have never ever had to file a claim on insurance before but I had a feeling that it would be a pain. The reason signature confirmation is important is in the event of a chargeback. If you can prove that the package was delivered and signed for, your chances of winning are much higher.

Thanks Steve!!!!
This has been on my lengthy list of things to tackle. I’ve been going to the post office to mail every package. I tried something called “click n ship” through the USPS. However, of course it doesn’t configure with my mac. Thank you for the insite. I will look into stamps.com. Do you buy specific labels for the printer? Also, can I print a return label, so my returns are free?
Jenny

Shipping to Canada is really expensive. Just go on the USPS.com website, look at Global Priority mail and take a look for yourself. Because USPS is generally unreliable internationally, a lot of vendors opt for Express Mail. I don’t think they are fleecing you at all but it depends on the weight of your item.

Their website says that they ship by FedEx. It’s my understanding that FedEx and UPS are expensive for international shipments at least in part because of the broker fees that get added in. That would explain why even small, light items have such a high shipping cost.

Using postal mail you avoid needing a broker for the import. I ship books to Canada via USPS First Class International Parcel and haven’t had any issues so far. A package with one book usually costs $10-12. All my shipments have arrived in less than two weeks. But I did register to collect GST/HST, which I think helps speed things along. I don’t know if planners count as books, but there are additional restrictions for importing publications to Canada, so that may play into it too.

For me, the annoying part of shipping to Canada is that you do have to go to the post office, even if you print your own label. International packages need to be handed to a postal worker at the counter.

Fairly good guide, I’d say it outlines some of the pros and cons of the USPS, UPS, and FedEx; however, I do disagree with the ease of getting credits. Getting a refund/credit for a delayed Express Mail delivery is easy as it gets if you’re dealing with the post office directly. And with the postmaster available if you run into any problems, its reassuring to deal with real people. FedEx and UPS don’t really have enough locations to make it easy for this, and their 800 customer service is just as terrible as anywhere else. But UPS and FedEx do have better hours for overnight delivery (late acceptance) and more guaranteed delivery times. So you have to pick and choose what your needs are.

When it comes to international shipping, I actually think USPS has a good track record. FedEx and UPS use a lot of 3rd party services. USPS uses the national post of the country you send to, so if you send to Canada you’ll be in the care of Canada Post. If you send to Britain you’ll be in the hands of Royal Mail. So on, and so forth… This provides a bit of reassurance since UPS and FedEx don’t have global networks that are of size to compete with national post services, so its an issue to keep in mind for int’l shipments.

“Priority Mail 1-Day” is just plain old priority mail within the “1-day” zone. Its estimated for 1-day, but not guaranteed. It usually takes one to two days.

With the new labeling requirements laid down by the USPS, Priority Mail delivery has been broken into 1-day, 2-day, and 3-day zones from the origin zip code. These aren’t guarantees, but reflect the “usual” delivery times for Priority Mail in each zone. The zones also don’t always make sense, in that they do not reflect concentric rings around your zip code. Go here:
and put in your origin zip code to generate the Priority Mail Zone Map.

The Max weight for a Priority Mail Package is 70lbs, Max Length plus Girth is 108″. BUT, if you are adding insurance to the packge, or the weight is over 10 pounds, you might be better off with Fedex Ground or UPS Ground. Check rates and delivery times, comparison shop!

First Class shipping with tracking is a joke. You pay up to but not limited too three dollars and it can take up to fourteen business days for the package to be delivered. You can mail that same package with just a couple of stamps for less than a dollar and have it arrive in three business days. Same goes for any of their pricing and packages. I have seen overnight express take three business days and priority mail take five business days. I am not buying this article because the post office is not on par with what you are stating. Also when you ask for a refund which they swear they will do if they package does not arrive on time, they end up saying that is an approximate time frame and not an actual guarantee. They just refuse to honor their services or guarantee’s.

Wait. You talk about media mail, and then dismiss it because you can use Dropbox. That is fine if it is media like that. But books are NOT. Meaning, if you are trying to send 30 books and this is a customer that orders pretty often. YOU DO NOT send them a PDF of the book that they then print themselves. The whole purpose of me reading this post was because I needed to find out the best/cheapest way to send out 30 books, and I kept reading, only to get to that section that would have had it, and to be blown off.

I’ve shipped over 5,000 items USPS Priority Mail and only been disappointed twice. The first instance was when I sent World Series tickets to a friend six hours driving time away. Two days before the game the tracking system went down. The tickets arrived three months later. I caught the ear of a very amenable postal manager who refunded not only the USPS charges but the face value of the tickets as well, over $500.00
Just last week I sent a very important set of documents to a client who needed them within five days. I used USPS Priority mail again, like I always do when I have between 3 to five days. A week has passed and again USPS cannot tell me why the item was sent from Phoenix to New River Arizona where it languished for three days. I drew up another set of documents today and used FedEx who guarantee he will have them in his hands tomorrow.
USPS said, “You waited too long to take it to the Post Office counter. Priority Mail is very reliable but not guaranteed.” I mentioned that in this case their service was not the least bit reliable adding I’ll have to look at each item I send Priority Mail as expendable.

Hi, Sorry but this sounds like an ad for the Post Office Priority Mail. This is great if you are shipping across the country. One price for each size box. If you are shipping withing the state or near by it is much cheaper to send it economy or “parcel post”. Economy shipping goes by weight and size. It might take longer but not everything needs to get there in 2 or 3 days.If you put your item in a plain brown box (not the white boxes that are free at the Post Office) and tell them you want to send it economy they will do it. This information is NOT on the USPS web site. It gives “other options” but goes to priority shipping. I don’t think it is inefficiency, it seems deliberate, which is hard to believe. (Also, plain brown boxes are available at the post office in the same size as the priority boxes for a few dollars.)

2) Why is the USPS not honoring the new up to 16 ounces for First Class packages? They sent out this glowing email in December stating their new rate increases and then stated that good news, you will be able to mail packages up to 16 ounces under First Class P now. What gives, my post office says go online and buy online, but it you bring in here we need to then charge you priority rates as we are not authorized to comply with that email?

Overall a good article. However, you missed one important fact. You can ship envelopes as a First Class Mail package if your envelope qualifies as rigid. If it is rigid, it doesn’t have to be 0.25″ thick. Cardboard, chipboard or rigid mailers (the super heavy ones) can be used to qualify your envelope as rigid.

I’ve mailed hundreds of regular 6 x 9 envelopes using online printed First Class Package postage by adding two sheets of chipboard to each envelope.

greetings. so in sending a small first class parcel….says 3-4 ounces….how do you get a tracking number UNLESS you pay for a shipping service…..are sending via ebay …or go to the USPS store. you said you can do it online, but my experience is that you may be able to print the postage but no tracking number. Any advice….or a free service ….of fee service…for those of us not in the ebay business….and who only send 1-3 of these packages a month, would be very helpful and appreciated…thanks in advance

I want to send a small package, probably small flat rate box or padded envelope, to my boyfriend for christmas. He lives in Maine, and I’m in Texas. If I want to send a package to his post office for him to pick up, is that an option? I don’t want to send it to his home address, but rather the nearest post office. How would I go about doing that? How would the shipping label look like?